PASTORAL LETTER
To the Clergy and Faithful of the Parish of the
Cathedral Church of St Sava in London
My dear spiritual children,
Many of you have seen a letter, sent in recent days, calling a meeting of the parish of the Cathedral Church of St Sava in London, to which our priests have also been summoned. On that account I write to you plainly and simply, as your Bishop and spiritual father, so that you may know exactly what is happening, who has the right to speak in the name of the parish, and why your priests will not be taking part in that meeting. Once the facts are set side by side, the picture becomes entirely clear.
-The letter is written in the name of a body that no longer exists
The letter to the clergy is printed on the headed paper of the “Church Congregation Council.” But those who sent it are no longer that Council.
Their mandate expired long ago. A Council whose mandate has expired cannot continue to act as though nothing has changed, nor write in the name of an office it no longer holds.
Using that letterhead today creates the impression of an authority these signatories simply do not have. That is the first thing to understand:
the heading on the page does not match the truth on the ground.
– A lawful Temporary Committee is already in place
Because the old Council’s mandate had long since expired, the Diocesan Administrative Board, over which I preside, had a duty to act in accordance with the Statute of the Diocese and the decision of the Holy Synod of Bishops. By its decision of 20 December 2025 (EYO no. 72/25) it formally brought to a close the work of the Council whose mandate had long since lapsed, and by its decision of the same day (EYO no.73/25) it appointed a Temporary Committee of the Church Congregation, which exercises the competences of the Administrative Board until a new Council is elected and confirmed in accordance with the rules of the Church.
This was neither improvised nor personal. It was done exactly as the rules of the Church require — under the Statute of the Diocese of Britain and Ireland and the Regulations for Parishes and Church Congregations, which themselves rest on the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church. In other words, the Temporary Committee is the only lawful body now leading the Church Congregation. The old “Council,” in whose name you are being invited to this meeting, is not part of the Church, and uses the name of this church body — and of the Serbian Orthodox Church — without authority.
-What the trustees are — and what they are not
To understand the rest, it helps to know exactly what the trustees’ role is. The trustees are respected and trusted members of our community, to whom one thing is entrusted — to carry, on the community’s behalf, the ownership of the church and the clergy houses, and to do so solely in accordance with the trust deed. Their office is the holding of property: they are its guardians in legal title, not the managers of its daily life.
Everything operational — insuring the property, maintaining and safeguarding it, settling the costs, and the receiving and keeping of the church’s money and bank accounts — belongs, under the order of our Church, to the Administrative Board of the Church Congregation, not to the trustees. Under the Regulations for Parishes and Church.
Congregations, it is the Treasurer of the Administrative Board who receives the church’s money, deposits it in the bank, pays the priest and other staff, and settles the congregation’s accounts — all under the Board, under the oversight of the Bishop, and with annual reports approved by the Diocesan Administrative Board. That is not the work of property trustees.
So let it be clear: the trustees care for the legal title of the house; they do not govern the family that lives in it, nor its income. They hold the property for the Church and in the name of the Church — not the other way around. This was once written into the very name of this charitable fund, which for decades was called “Trust Property Held in Connexion with the Serbian Orthodox Church of St Sava” — that is, property held on trust in connexion with the Serbian Orthodox Church of St Sava. In 2017 the present body of trustees decided to change the fund’s name and so present the fund as the Church, which of course it is not.
Moreover, the rules of the Church themselves place the church trustees within the Administrative Board of the Church Congregation — as one third of its members, by virtue of office. They are therefore part of the Church’s governance, not a power above it. The keeper of the title is not the master of the parish.
-Your priests answer to their Bishop — not to a fund
The letter summons your priests to attend the meeting and warns them that, if they cannot come, they must explain themselves in writing, with evidence. It claims they must attend because they are “employed by the Fund.”
This misunderstands what a priest is. A priest is not a hired labourer. He is ordained by the Bishop and appointed to his parish by the Bishop. His right to serve and his duty of obedience flow from the Bishop, and not from whoever cares for the building or pays the wages. Where a fund is named as the employer, that is an administrative arrangement, made for practical reasons such as payroll, visas and the upkeep of the church. It gives the trustees no authority over the sacred duties of a priest. No one who cares for a building may command a priest in the exercise of his priestly office. That belongs to the Bishop alone.
I have not given my blessing for the priests to attend this meeting. For the priests, that settles the matter. They do not place their sacred office at the disposal of others without the blessing of their Bishop.
-Even by the trustees’ own reading, it is the other way round
Let us suppose, for a moment, that we accept the trustees’ own claim that the Fund employs the priests. Even then, the trustees would not be the ones entitled to direct the priests’ parish duties. The deed that governs this very church states that the trustees hold the church for the Church Management Committee — that is, for the Council of the Church Congregation — and that this Council holds the church for the parish in connexion with the Serbian Orthodox Church.
So the body entitled to speak of the life of the parish is the Council of the Church Congregation, which acts under the Bishop, and whose competences are now lawfully exercised by the Temporary Committee. It was never a handful of property trustees acting on their own. The trustees cannot leap over the Council they are bound to serve and issue orders in its place.
-Why your priests will not attend this meeting
When all of these facts are seen together, the reason is plain. The meeting has been called by those who write as a “Council” whose mandate expired months ago. They have summoned the priests in their priestly capacity — a matter for the Bishop, who has not blessed it. The true, lawful body is already in place, and it is not the body calling this meeting.
Were your priests to attend, their presence would be used — in photographs, in minutes, in the retelling — to make the gathering appear a true assembly of the parish, led by a true Council. It is not. To take part would be to lend the dignity of the priesthood to a body acting against the order of the Church, and to mislead the very people the priests are bound to serve — that is, you, the parishioners of the Cathedral Church of St Sava in London.
So, understand this clearly. Your priests are not withdrawing from you. They remain your priests — at the altar, at the font, at the graveside, and in your homes whenever you have need of them. They simply decline to lend their sacred office to a meeting held against the order of the Church.
-What the trustees’ own documents reveal
There is one more thing you deserve to know, for it explains much. In their published financial statements the trustees claim that only they may choose new trustees — a closed circle that renders no account to its Church. But that claim rests only on the old deed of 1948, and passes over in silence the deed of 1982 — the deed for the church on Lancaster Road.
The deed of 1982 says two things the trustees conceal. First, that new trustees are appointed by the Church Management Committee — the Council of the Church Congregation — and not by the trustees themselves. Second, that the whole fund is held “subject to the constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church.” This deed was signed by the trustees of that time, on the purchase of the present church, and thereby bound all future trustees to act strictly and solely in accordance with its provisions.
By leaving out the deed of 1982, they conceal the two facts that overturn their claim of independence: that the Council stands above the trustees, and that the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church stands above them both. The trustees, therefore — not only by the letter of the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church and the Statute of the Diocese, but even by their own founding documents — act under the Council and under the Church, in accordance with the Constitution.
-One Church, one order — for more than 800 years
Finally, let us remember what we belong to, for it is greater than any dispute. The Serbian Orthodox Church is not an association or a company. It is one Church, with a hierarchical structure, established by Saint Sava more than 800 years ago, with an order that has held firm down the centuries.
That order is simple. The Church is led and served by its bishops and priests, helped by the faithful — who live a Christian life, who come regularly to church for the Holy Liturgies, who fast, who confess, and who strive to grow in the Christian virtues. Priests serve in parishes. Parishes are gathered into dioceses. Each diocese is led by a bishop, who is its shepherd; the priests serve under his oversight, and the faithful are gathered around their bishop. This is not invented for today — it is the same order that Saint Sava gave us.
Our Diocese of Britain and Ireland is regulated by its Statute — which was drawn up not by the Bishop, but by lawyers from London and from the Patriarchate — which rests on the Constitution of the Serbian Orthodox Church, applies to the whole Diocese, and is fully in accordance with the laws of the United Kingdom and with the regulations and standards of the Charity Commission. The Fund stands within this order as its servant. It cannot stand above the Council, above the Bishop, above the Diocese, or above the Church. Any attempt by self- appointed bodies or organisations to govern the Church and the life of the Church stands in direct contradiction to the legacy of Saint Sava, and is an attempt to privatise the Church and to divide our indivisible holy Church — and that is the sin of schism.
-In closing
I ask you, faithful people of London, to remain with your Church. Do not be taken in by untrue stories. Take full part in the life of the parish — through the lawful Temporary Committee and under the blessing of your Bishop. The doors of the Church of St Sava remain open, the services will continue, and your priests remain wholly at your service.
May God bless you and keep you, and may the prayers of Saint Sava guard this parish in peace and unity.
Bishop of London
Great Britain and Ireland
NEKTARIJE
